Game apparatus



M. E. woon GAME APPARATUS Jan. 18, 1938.

ATTORNEYSv WITNESSE S .im 18, 1938., Y M, WOOD l A2,1%,024

GAME APPARATUS l INVENTOR J/zlon E7. Wood ATTORNAEYS Jah. 18, 1938, M. E. woon 2,105,024

GAME APPARATUS Filed Feb. 1U, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 i 7 mls WITNESSES f INVCNTOR -W Jlto/z la. M000/ Patented Jan. 18, 1938 UNITED STATES ATENT oFFrcE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to game apparatus and more specifically to an amusement device which embodies many novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, all of which will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings- Fig. 1 is a View in vertical longitudinal section illustrating my improved apparatus, the view being taken on the line I-I of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a View in vertical section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged View in elevation illustrating the mechanism for operating the segmental electric contact which controls the lights of the apparatus;

Fig. 4 is a View in section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. v5 is a fragmentary sectional plan View showing the manner of connecting the coin slide with the lever for operating the several mechanisms of the apparatus;

Fig. 6 is a perspective View of the apparatus;

Fig."7 is a fragmentary View in longitudinal section showing the arrangement of lamp sockets,

lamps, and compartments therefor;

Fig. 8 illustrates diagrammatically an electric circuit which may be successfully employed in my apparatus;

Fig. 9 is a perspective View of a bean bag such as employed in playing the game.

IllV represents the casing of my improved apparatus which is provided in the upper portion Ofits front Il with an opening I2 through which bean bags, such as illustrated at I3, are adapted to be thrown, and below this opening I2 an inclined shelf i4 is secured to the front Il and directs bean bags which strike the front of the casing and miss the opening and fall thereon into and through an opening I5 in the front I I which extends throughout the width of the front. This shelf I4 is preferably connected to the front by hinges I 5 and is held in operative position by detachable chains I1. This` shelf I4 directs the bean bags into the interior of the casing into a hopper I8 which is provided with a sliding gate I9 which when opened permits the bean bag to fall from the hopper and move outside of the casing through an opening 2D in the end wall of 501 the casing.

Bean bags which are successfully thrown through the opening I2 enter a small compartment 2| and fall down through the same upon a trap door 22. This trap door is in the form of a :ils5 bell crank lever hingedly connected at its angle.

as shown at 23, and one member 240i the trap door is` provided with an electric contact 25 which when moved by the fall of the bean bag is adapted to engage a fixed contact 26, and a stop 21 is provided to limit the movement of the trap door 5 and hold it in normal position. Below this trap door 22an inclined chute 28 is provided which directs .the bean bags falling thereon into the hopper I8.

The casing I0 is provided, preferably atthe 10 upper portion thereof and at its front, with a horizontal series of pockets 29 having transparent fronts 30 containing numerals, there being ten of these pockets and the numerals, of course, are from l to l0. The casing I0 back 15 of these pockets. II is provided with a metal bar 3I, which is electrically connected with a series of sockets 32 into which electric bulbs 33 are removably located. Each of these sockets 32 at its central contact is connected by a wire 34 with an 20 electric contact 35, there being a curved series of these contacts 35 secured to a block of insulation 36 in the casing.

31 represents a segmental electric contact which is secured to a ratchet wheel 38, the latter mounted to turn on a supporting stud 39, which latter is xedly secured within a supporting plate 42 secured within the casing. A coil spring 49 connects the segmental contact 31 with a fixed pin 4I, which spring is adapted to return the 30 segmental contact to normal position, a stop 42 being provided to limit the movement of the segment. The ratchet wheel 38 is so constructed as to omit any teeth from .a portion of the wheel and in effect constitutes a segmental ratchet 35 wheel. This ratchet wheel is caused to move by a lever 43 pivotally supported between its ends on a pin 44 secured to the plate 42, and at its free end carrying a pawl 45. 'Ihis pawl 45 is pivoted between its ends on a pin 49 secured to 40 lever 43, and a coil spring 41 connects one end of the pawl 45 with a fixed pin 48 on lever 43.

49 represents a dog which is pivotally connected by a pin 50 to plate 42, and is held by a coil spring 5I in engagement with the teeth of the 45 ratchet wheel 38, the function of this dog being to prevent accidental retrograde movement of the ratchet wheel. The lever 43 above described is connected at its lower end by a coil spring 52 with a iixed pin 53 on plate 42, and this spring 50 tends to'move the lever in a direction to move the pawl 45 away from the ratchet wheel 38.

54 represents a solenoid, the armature 55 of which is pivotally connected to the lower portion of lever 43 by a. pin 56,` so that when the solenoid 55 is energized it operates to move the lever to the right of Fig. 3 and in a direction opposed by the spring 52 to move the pawl 43 a distance of one tooth on the ratchet wheel so as to move the ratchet wheel and the segmental contact 31 a xed distance.

51 represents a lever which is pivotally connected at its upper end to the casing I0, as shown at 58, and this lever intermediate its ends is provided with a finger 59 which is located in a recess 60 in a coin slide 6I which projects outside of one end of the casing and is manually operable when the proper coin is located in the coin receiving slide. As the coin controlled mechanism forms no part of the present invention, it is not necessary to describe the same in detail except to say that the slide 6| is manually drawn outward when the coin is placed in proper position therein, and then forced inwardly which causes a movement of the lever 51 and drops the coin into a container 62 within the casing. To the lower end of the lever 51 one end of a chain 63 is secured. This chain is passed over idle pulleys 64 and 65 and is connected to a pin 66 on the gate I9. A coil spring 61 connects the pin 66 with a fixed pin 68 on the hopper so that this spring tends to hold the gate in closed position and return it to such position when permitted.

The lever 51 is connected intermediate its ends by a link 69, with a pivoted arm 10 and this pivoted arm 18 carries a shutter 1| which is movable to a position back of the opening I2 to cover said opening and is also movable to a position to un- 1 cover said opening. The lever 51 when moved to one extreme position is adapted to engage a pin 12 on the dog 49 to release said dog from engagement with the ratchet wheel 38 and allow the segment 31 to return to its initial position. The lever 51 is also adapted when moved to one extreme position to engage the control arm 13 of a time switch 14, the movable contact member 15 of which is adapted when in one position to engage a xed contact 16 which is connected by a wire 11 with the segmental contact 31.

In the casing I0 I locate a bell or other electrically operated sounding device 18, and I may locate within the casing an electric battery 19, although, of course, it is to be understood that the apparatus may be electrically connected with any source of electricity represented more or less diagrammatically by the battery 19.

Having described the structural features of the apparatus, attention is now directed to the electric diagram shown in Fig. 8, which may be successfully employed in the apparatus. As will be seen in this diagram one side of the battery 19 is electrically connected by a wire with all of the sockets 32, the other side of said battery being connected by a wire 8| with the time switch 14. A wire 82 electrically connects wire 8| with contact 26. The trap door 22 is electrically connected by a wire 83 with the solenoid 54, the other pole of said solenoid being connected by a wire 84 with one contact 85 of the bell 18, the other contact 86 of the bell being electrically connected by a wire 81 with the wire 8|.

It is to be understood that the apparatus where employing ten electric lamps to illuminate the ten numerals is provided with ten bean bags, such as illustrated at I3, and I would call attention to the fact that bean bags are largely employed not only because when they strike the front of the casing without entering the opening they do not bounce back but fall on to the shelf I5, but also because they add interest in the playing of the game.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows. Assuming the parts to be in the position shown in full lines in Fig. l, which is the initial position, the operator places the proper coin on the slide 4| and forces the slide inwardly which serves to drop the coin into the container 42. 'Ihis movement also causes the lever 51 to move to the dotted position shown in Fig. 1, and this lever during such movement serves to perform the following operation: It engages the pin 49 on the dog 50 to release the ratchet 38 and permit the segmental contact 31 to return to its initial position if it is in engagement with any of the contacts 35. The lever also engages the arm 13 of the time switch 14 and causes the latter to function, which function entails a movement of the contact arm with the fixed contact member 16. The lever 51 also moves the shutter 1I to a position to cover the opening I2, and it also exerts a pull on the chain I1 to open the gate I9 and allow the bean bags in the hopper I8 to escape through the opening 28 in position to be picked up by the player. operations of the lever 51 are caused by the inward movement of the lever, that is, to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1.

After these operations take place the coin slide is drawn outward which moves the lever to the i full line position shown in Fig. l, and this permits the spring 61 to close the gate I9 and also open the shutter 1 I, and moves the lever 51 away from the arm 13 of time switch 14 and away from the pin 12 of dog 49.

The player stands a desired distance from the apparatus and throws the bean bags I3 one at a time, endeavoring to throw them through the opening I2. If he is unsuccessful the bean bag will strike the front of the casing and be directed by the shelf I4 through the opening I5 into the hopper I8. If he is successful the bean bag passing through the opening I2 will fall down upon the trap door 22 and its weight will cause this trap door to swing on its pivot and bring the contact 25 into contact with the fixed contact 26. The bag will then fall onto the chute 28 and be directed into the hopper I8. When the trap door serves to move its contact 25 against contact 2'6, it will momentarily close the circuit from the battery 19, through wire 80, wire 82, contact 26, trap door 22, wire 83, solenoid 54, wire 84, bell 18 and wire 81 to wire 8| back to battery 19. Thus the bell 18 will be momentarily sounded and the solenoid 54 will be momentarily energized, and as above explained when the solenoid is energized it moves the lever 53 a distance sufficient to cause the pawl 45 to move the ratchet wheel 38 a distance of one tooth, thus bringing the segmental contact 31 into engagement with the rst contact 35 and thus close the circuit to the lamp socket 32 to illuminate its lamp and illuminate the numeral l on the front of the pocket 29. This circuit is from the battery 19, wire 80, sockets 32, wire 33 to contact 35, through segment 31, wire 11, contact 16, arm 15, and time switch 14 and wire 8 I, back to battery 19.

It is obvious that each successful throw of a bean bag through the opening I2 will operate to move the segment 31 a distance of one tooth of the ratchet wheel 38, which will be sufcient to cause the segment to successively engage the contacts 35 and illuminate the numerals as above explained. Thus, if the player succeeds in throw- All of the above referred to ing five bean bags through the opening, there 75 will be the first ve numerals illuminated, so that the illuminated numerals will indicate at the end of the play the number of bags which have been successfuiy thrown. After a predetermined length of time, the time switch 14 will automatically operate to break the circuit and extinguish the lights.

While I have illustrated and described what I believe to be a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that various slight changes may be made with regard to the ow and arrangement of parts without departing from my invention, and hence I do not limit myself to the precise details set forth but consider myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall Within the spirit and scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A game apparatus including a casing of general oblong shape having a flat front vertical wall and having a missile-receiving opening in said front wall in the upper portion thereof and having a second opening in the front wall below the first-mentioned opening and at a point appreciably above the bottom of the casing, said last-mentioned opening extending throughout the full width of the front wall, an inclined shelf on the front of the casing extending throughout the full width of the casing and in position to direct missiles which fall thereon through the said last-mentioned opening into the casing, a hopper in the casing into which missiles which enter the casing through either of said openings are collected, said casing having an outlet opening in its side wall near the lower end of the casing, and a manually operated gate on said hopper which when opened permits the missiles collected therein to fall through said outlet opening.

2. A game apparatus including a casing of general oblong shape having a at front vertical wall and having a missile-receiving opening in said front wall in the upper portion thereof and having a second opening in the front wall below the first-mentioned opening and at a point appreciably above the bottom of the casing, said lastmentioned opening extending throughout the full width of the front Wall, an inclined shelf on the front of the casing extending throughout the full width of the casing and in position to direct missiles which fall thereon through the said lastmentioned opening into the casing, a hopper in the casing into which missiles which enter the casing through either of said openings are co1- lected, said casing having an outlet opening in its side wall near the lower end of the casing, a manually operated gate on said hopper which when opened permits the missiles collected therein to fall through said outlet opening, a trap door above the hopper in the casing which is operated by missiles entering the casing through the first-mentioned opening, and a manually operated shutter for closing the first-mentioned opening operatively connected tothe means for operating the gate controlling the outlet from the hopper, whereby when said hopper gate is opened the first-mentioned opening is closed to prevent the passage of missiles therethrough.

MILTON E. WOOD. 

